Rose Glow Barberries Scorching

9 years ago

I asked a question on this forum about barberry shrubs. Well...I purchased and planted some, and now they are scorching, so here is my question.
I planted some Rose Glow Barberries on the south side of my house just last Thursday. The next two days we had temps in the low 100's. The barberries scorched and now a couple of them look to have a few dead branches.
The south side of my house receives full, blazing sun from sunrise to sunset and reflected heat from the house. The soil is very well draining sandy loam. In addition to this, the air doesn't circulate as well on the south side of my house as it does on the other sides. The reason for this is because part of the west side of my house juts out and creates a wind break, sheltering the south side of my house from the west wind. And my neighbor to my south has a privacy fence which makes another wind break against the south wind.
Interesting enough, I have another Rose Glow Barberry I also planted on Thursday on the south side of my garage with the exact same environmental conditions except for the fact that the south side of my garage has no wind breaks around it. That barberry is doing great. I think it may have had a little bit of scorching on one small branch and that's it.
Do you think the Rose Glow Barberries on the south side of my house will acclimate to the conditions mentioned above or would it be best to move them? Any thoughts or advice would be welcome.

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Tim
Original Author

9 years ago

Thanks for the advice, Hort. I'll leave them alone except for regular watering.
I also bought some Froebelli Spireas for the west side of my house, and they literally didn't suffer any transplant shock at all. They are probably the easiest plant I have ever put in the ground.
I also planted some Goldmound Spireas which are struggling similar to the barberries. However, my Autumn Joy & Autumn Charm Sedums, Russian Sage, and Sonset Lantanas are doing very well.

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Comments (8)

hortster
9 years ago
Hey, remember the wind. The 30-40+ MPH SUSTAINED winds of a while back probably have something to do with it, especially on newly planted shrubs. Don't move 'em. Wrong time, anyway. See what recovery they offer and keep your watering maintence on track. Rose Glow is tough, like all barberries around here. Not being established with the trials and tribs of late is probably the culprit. Now we have some cooler, milder conditions for recovery (for a while...).
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Tim
Original Author
9 years ago
Those young Rosy Glow Barberry shrubs have acclimated nicely and are no longer scorching.
I have one question though. They are sending up long lanky branches. Is that normal for barberry shrubs? Should I prune these long branches down partway to encourage more branching or just leave them alone?
hortster
9 years ago
Let the new growth help build the root system. Leave them until spring - nip 'em back then just before they start to grow to make them branch a bit.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
you are confused as to how to prune.. because you have no goal at this point ...

when i get in this circumstance.. i use google images to define a goal ... and then try... key word there.. TRY ... lol .. to figure out how to accomplish such ...

looking at the pix at the link ... these things appear to get rather large ... or can be kept rather small.. if you dont mind bleeding a bit to prune them ...

once established.. i doubt you could kill them if you wanted ... i recall one on the driveway.. that mom tried to kill repeatedly with the car ..... she didnt ... but it wasnt a prime specimen ... lol ... i often wonder.. 40 years later.. why dad planted them on my 8 by 8 foot square basketball court.... who knew shooting hoops could lead to so much blood loss ....

ken

ps: fall or early spring pruning is best.. mostly so you can have a jean or leather jacket on.. to reduce blood flow ... as well as leather gloves ...

Here is a link that might be useful: link
Tim
Original Author
9 years ago
Okay, so the consensus is to wait to prune them until Spring.
And, Ken, thank you. I love your sense of humor. My goal was to make them bushier and not leggy, but I guess that really isn't a goal per say. Anyway, I will use your advice and Google photos to see how I would like to try to make them look. Right now they are so small it's hard to picture them as big bushy shrubs some day. I will also remember the leather gloves and long sleeves when I do prune.
You mom's "car pruning" technique sounds interesting. Think it would work on my neighbor's Rose of Sharon?
arbo_retum
9 years ago
ken keeps saying you can't kill them, but i am here to tell you (NOT with pride) that i killed and cried over 2 or 3 hellmond's pillars in our 30 yrs here. details are gone from retention, but i'm sure i prob.moved them at the wrong time
(but i only moved them after i couldn't 'fix' them where they were.

at any rate, you mention an important planting problem i think. whenever we have to plant something during a time of high heat/sun/ dry conditions or drought, we set up a jury-rigged 'shade tent 'over the plant for a good 2 weeks +.
That practice has worked very well. Bed sheets, tarps, anything permeable , secured over posts, ladders, stakes,w/ height to give the plant air circulation under the tent. And newly planted shrubs and trees always get a good solid(not crumbly) saucer of dirt built around them that can hold slowly dripping water as it makes its way down to the roots.
We fill the saucer SLOWLY as we do other things. We also, when watering in those conditions, make sure to spray the plant's foliage.

Maybe you already do all these things, but if not, i hope the info will help you. I always think of Kansas and Oklahoma as being very challenging places to garden, so i'm impressed w/ intrepid gardeners like you!
Tim
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the kind words, arbo. You are correct, KS and OK are challenging places to garden, but I think every place has it's own set of challenges that a gardener has to learn about and then adapt to. Here in SC KS I try to plant things that are drought and heat tolerant but that are also cold hardy enough to survive our 0 degree temps in winter. We're in a border line planting zone here, so it's fun to experiment with different species of plants to see if they will survive. For example, I have found a great deal of success growing lantanas as perennials, which are only supposed to be annuals around here.